title: Dermoscopy of necrobiosis lipoidica and granuloma annulare.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dermoscopy is traditionally used for the diagnosis of skin tumors, but it has also gained increasing interest as an adjunct in the clinical diagnosis of inflammatory skin diseases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the dermoscopic patterns of necrobiosis lipoidica (NL) and granuloma annulare (GA) and to compare these findings with other granulomatous skin disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective analysis of patient data and clinical and dermoscopic images of histopathologically diagnosed cases of NL and GA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 24 cases, including 12 cases of NL and 12 cases of GA, were evaluated. In all cases of NL, dermoscopy revealed evident, sharply focused, elongated and serpentine telangiectasias, which were typically located over a whitish, structureless background. In contrast, all cases of GA were dermoscopically typified by peripheral, structureless orange-reddish borders, which were associated in 5 cases with isolated, unfocussed small vessels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that NL and GA reveal different dermoscopic patterns, which may aid the correct diagnosis. In addition, the dermoscopic patterns of NL and GA appear to differ from other forms of granulomatous diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza', San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pellicano
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caldarola
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Filabozzi
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zalaudek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D046169:Dermoscopy; D005260:Female; D016460:Granuloma Annulare / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009335:Necrobiosis Lipoidica / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies